Court orders sushi maker Yobidoyobi to change name

The Arbitration Court of the Krasnoyarsk Territory recognized the name of the network of sushi and rolls “Yobidoyobi” (translated from Japanese means “Day of the week – Saturday”) as contrary to the principles of humanity and morality. The company was also ordered to change its name, according to a court decision dated April 7, published in the file of arbitration cases.

“The Arbitration Court comes to the conclusion that the word “YOBIDOYOBI” contained in the defendant’s company name is a designation that is contrary to public interests, the principles of humanity and morality, since, being in the information field of an unlimited number of persons, with a significant degree of probability the word will cause associations with abusive profanity vocabulary of the Russian language,” the decision says.

The court noted that the name violates the requirements of paragraphs. 5 p. 4 art. 1473 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (designations that are contrary to public interests, as well as the principles of humanity and morality). In this regard, the court ordered the company to change its name within three months from the date of entry into force of the court decision. In addition, 6,000 rubles were also collected from the sushi and roll network. state duty. The court decision can be appealed within a month.

In an interview with Lenta.ru, the founder and CEO of the franchise Konstantin Zimen declaredthat the court’s decision “cannot reflect the view of our entire Russian public.” He stressed that he was not going to rebrand. If necessary, the company will conduct additional linguistic examinations and population surveys, Ziemen added.

According to the data in the filing cabinet, the plaintiff in the case is the inter-district inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service No. 23 for the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The agency went to court on November 28, 2022.

“Yobidoyobi” was founded in 2016 in Krasnoyarsk. As follows from the data on the site, now the network operates in more than 40 cities of Russia. The company is known for aggressive marketing, and several scandalous stories are associated with it. In October 2021, the Volgograd OFAS acknowledged an inappropriate advertisement for one of the local bars of the Yobidoyobi sushi chain. In 2019, Rospatent refused to register the name as a trademark for the company, citing a conflict with the public interest. In 2020, the legality of the decision of Rospatent was confirmed by the court.